Prop. L would give SF supervisors more control over transit board

Passengers exit and board an outbound 14R Muni bus at 30th and Mission streets in San Francisco, California on Friday, September 15, 2016.

Photo: Gabriella Angotti-Jones, The Chronicle

As the agency in charge of parking, traffic, taxis and Muni — basically everything in San Francisco that’s supposed to move people — the Municipal Transportation Agency is, quite naturally, a popular target of criticism.

Some critics say the MTA, as it’s often known, is trying to force everyone to get rid of their cars, while others say the agency is too timid and too reluctant to radically improve transportation in the city. They also say the mayor has way too much influence as the one who appoints its Board of Directors.

Those critics have united behind Proposition L on the Nov. 8 ballot. The proposal, which requires a simple majority vote to pass, seeks to give the Board of Supervisors more authority over the seven-member board.

Although the mayor appoints its members, they are confirmed by the Board of Supervisors. They serve four-year terms and have to leave after three terms. Prop. L would change the appointment process so that four of the members would be appointed by the mayor and three by the supervisors. The mayor’s appointees would still be subject to the supervisors’ confirmation.

The proposition would also give supervisors a slightly stronger hand in the agency’s budget. The MTA board passes its own budget, which must be approved or rejected in its entirety by the supervisors — unless they can muster seven votes to send it back for revision. Prop. L would lower that requirement to six votes.

Proponents say the changes would bring more transparency to the agency. Opponents say it would shift power to the Board of Supervisors and return the city to the transportation mess that existed in the 1990s, when a series of problems with Muni Metro culminated with a systemwide meltdown after its then-new computerized train control system failed. Political observers says Prop. L is a power grab — or at least a jab at the mayor.

Supervisor Norman Yee, who placed Prop. L on the ballot, said it’s an effort to bring more diversity to the MTA board and to make the appointment and budget processes similar to city commissions, committees and other city departments. Supervisors have appointment powers over those commissions and committees.

A car sits in a bus and taxi only "Red Carpet" lane on 24th and Mission streets in San Francisco, California on Friday, September 15, 2016.

Photo: Gabriella Angotti-Jones, The Chronicle

“Lets keep it consistent,” he said. “Why not?”

Yee said the proposition is not an attempt to give the supervisors more say over Muni, traffic or parking. And he said it was not intended to dismantle the MTA or object to its policies and direction. Some critics of the agency, like Stop SFMTA, support the measure because they hope it will lead to an agency overhaul.

“They work for us. We don’t work for them,” the group says in a pro-L statement on its website. “San Francisco needs a transportation system that works today, not a plan for the future. We need a board who listens to the public, not one that dictates to us.”

Passengers wait to board an outbound Muni bus at 24th and Mission streets in San Francisco, California on Friday, September 15, 2016.

Photo: Gabriella Angotti-Jones, The Chronicle

Tom Nolan, chairman of the MTA board until his final term ends early next year, noted that before voters created the transportation agency in 1999, Muni was often the political football.

“Now they want the football back,” he said. “To me, I think we are doing good things, moving forward.”

He said he believes the current arrangement does what voters intended, creating a board that represents the whole city, not districts, and makes the directors and mayor accountable.

Some of the MTA’s more controversial steps, like redesigning streets to speed transit or to accommodate bikes and pedestrians, would have been far more difficult to achieve with a board appointed by both the mayor and supervisors, he said

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“So many good things have happened that would have been difficult for political people to do,” Nolan said.

Supervisor Scott Wiener also opposes Prop. L, saying that the MTA has been making progress and that giving supervisors more power would be making a U-turn.

“Prop. L will make it much easier for the Board of Supervisors to meddle in Muni’s budget and take us back to the bad old days — the 1990s, when the board controlled Muni and ran it into the ground,” he said. “You may have problems with Muni, but those of us around in ’90s, when Muni was falling apart, will remember how bad it was. We should not go back to that time.”

Michael Cabanatuan has covered all things transportation for the San Francisco Chronicle — from BART strikes, acrobatic bridge construction and dark dirty tunnel excavations to the surging ridership on public transportation and the increasing conflict as cars, bikes and pedestrians struggle to coexist on the streets. He’s ridden high-speed trains in Japan, walked in BART’s Transbay Tube and driven to King City at 55 mph to test fuel efficiency.

He joined The Chronicle as a suburban reporter and deputy bureau chief in Contra Costa County, and has also covered the general assignment beat. In addition to transportation, Michael covers a variety of Bay Area news, including breaking news events. He’s been tear-gassed covering demonstrations in Oakland and exposed to nude protesters in the Castro District. Michael is also a regular contributor to the City Insider column and blog.